According to science the average time to form a new habit is 66 days (European Journal of Social Psychology, 2009). Let’s say the old habit of living a sedentary lifestyle is swapped with a new one – joining a CrossFit box.

Here’s your first proof: 66 days is approximately two months. If you will stick to the new training regime for at least 66 days, it’s quite possible the experience will be life-changing.

Joints are immobile, muscles are weakened, tendons are shortened… All those issues affect our movement and prevent us to use our body in the full range of motion. The health expert’s job is to make our body fully functional again through what we call functional training.

For example, when you dislocate a shoulder, putting on a bra, and clipping it, will be quite a challenge due to the limited range of motion the joint, and the arms, will have. Especially if you are not using the shoulder for a while (but keep it safely in the splint). Functional training will be the only way to restore or even improve the movement.

Functional training workouts need to be performed with caution

If performed correctly, and supervised by an expert, functional training will lead to better strength, endurance, flexibility, stability and movement mechanics. The sum of the latter will make you a more athletic human being who has no chronic pain issues, immobile movement patterns and feels healthy regarding of age.

The most popular functional training today is CrossFit.

CrossFit, founded by Greg Glassman, is a fitness regimen which incorporates various movements from Olympic weightlifting, Powerlifting, gymnastics, athletics, rowing, climbing and other sports. Although it’s notoriously known for a higher intensity, brutal workouts and its competitiveness, CrossFit is much more than the Games we watch every August.

The biggest part of CrossFit is its community hidden behind the media craze: the individuals who don’t make the news, but had a life-changing experience with it. Most people joined a box for health reasons and stayed because of the social aspect: friendships, community, safe, non-judgemental place to train.

Workouts which can change your life?

“I got hooked on it right away,” is the most common response Crossfitters give when being asked how they feel about their training. Other feedback includes having fun, improving health, confidence, body awareness, posture, nutrition, gaining new friends, doing their first competitions ever…

If you give the following functional training workouts a try for two months, or let’s say 66 days, you might feel the same. For best results, join a local CrossFit box.

The squat is a perfect analogy for life

Squat is about standing back up when something heavy drags you down. It is also one of most basic and most functional movements you use in your daily life.

Picking yourself up when falling down: burpees

Burpees are literally about learning how to pick yourself up after you have stumbled upon a hurdle and fell on the ground. First, trained bodies will be less likely to sustain any injuries as they’ll know how to react in a (familiar) situation. Second, fitter individuals will make it look like nothing happened as they’ll be extremely quick jumping back up.

The speed and technique will depends on your current fitness level. If you are a beginner do it slowly: controllably lie down on the floor, touch the ground with your chest and stand back up. On a pro level however, you will be throwing yourself down and explode back up by using a push up.

Continue the pattern—add another burpee each minute until you cannot do the required number of burpees in the given minute.

Building your body stronger: CrossFit Total

Muscles can improve your posture, protect your spine and help stabilize other joints in everyday, as well as critical, situations. CrossFit Total is pure strength and your goal is to test your one rep max in three different powerlifting exercises.

Before attempting this workout, make sure you master the technique. Don’t push to the absolute max, but start with a heavy one rep. Your technique should break down because your ego wants a higher number.

Stability and stamina: Nancy

Most people struggle with overhead squat, because simply said, it is technically a more demanding exercise. Strength is not enough: you also need sufficient shoulder flexibility so the barbell can be securely placed above the head and good stability to also support that weight (with your whole body).

If you are a beginner, do the workout first with a wooden stick and the PVC pipe.

Making your body mobile to the point you are able to perform a perfect overhead squat is literally life-changing. If you want see how the exercise is performed and mastered to the perfection search for pro level Olympic Weightlifters (images of them doing the snatch).

While you might have the overhead squat capacity, Nancy also demands the heart and the lungs: aerobic capacity.

This workout is a perfect indicator of one’s health: their stamina, stability, focus and strength.

Mental toughness: Karen

CrossFit teaches you how to cope with failure, and also how to grind through it to reach for the goals you have set for yourself. At first Karen makes you want to give up: throwing the object up seems like an easy task until the ball weights 6/9 kilograms and your rep schemes says 150 for time. You need a certain kind of calmness, called mental toughness, to get through this workout.

If you really want a life-change experience join a local gym. Go there to try something new, like in our case functional training workouts. Partner up with different people, join the weekend box competition, stay after class and meet the members…

Change your life and make this gym your new home.

Visit Velites to review our products to help you reach your objectives.

http://www.fondastrong.com/
Polona has been working in sports media for almost a decade. She is a former editor of the biggest European online magazine on functional fitness with expertise in graphic and interactive communication. Business aside, Polona is also a former competitive alpine skier with a passion for weightlifting, crossfit and outdoor sports.